Where The Crowds Will Be In `88: The World`s 10 Biggest Events

January 24, 1988|By Douglas McArthur, Toronto Globe and Mail.

Mark your calendar now if you want to attend-or avoid-the major special events around the world this year.

Big celebrations can bring excitement, spectacle and an added dimension to a holiday. They can also mean crowds, scarce hotel rooms and higher prices. Love them or hate them, it`s best to know when they are scheduled so you can make your vacation plans accordingly.

Here are the 10 ``must`` events for the world`s jet set in 1988:

- Calgary Winter Olympics.

Forget all those stories about hotel room shortages for the Olympic Winter Games in Calgary and the nearby Rockies from Feb. 13-28. Many rooms being held for executives of Olympic sponsors are now back on the market.

Athletes from 58 countries will compete in hockey, skiing, luge, biathlon and bobsleigh. Some events, including the opening and closing ceremonies and hockey finals, are sold out, but other general admission tickets are available.

For ticket information, call 403-270-6088.

- Seoul Summer Olympics.

Not only are most facilities already in place for the Sept. 17 to Oct. 4 Summer Olympic Games in Seoul, Korea, but they have already been tested during the 1986 Asian Games.

Most deluxe hotels are booked, but accommodations are available in high-rise apartments, Korean inns and family homes.

To mark 200 years since the arrival of the first convict settlers, Australia is having a year-long party.

Highlight will be the World Expo 88 exposition in Brisbane running from April 30 to Oct. 30. A total of 40 countries plus 14 corporations and all six Australian states will take part in this tribute to Leisure in the Age of Technology.

The 12-month Australian events list also includes a January race of tall ships from Hobart, Tasmania, to Sydney; a traveling Bicentennial Exhibition which will call at 34 cities and towns; and a round-Australia yacht race.

- Spotlight on Ottawa.

Destination 88 is the label for year-long celebrations in Canada`s Capital Region marking the arrival of three new national museums.

The new National Gallery of Canada will be unveiled on May 21, while a fly-past of vintage aircraft will mark the opening of the new National Aviation Museum on June 17. Meanwhile, a June 29 to Nov. 6 exhibit of native artifacts, music and folklore will provide a sneak preview of the new Canadian Museum of Civilization, slated to open in 1989.

Among dozens of other Destination 88 events are a re-enactment in Hull on June 4 of Champlain`s arrival 375 years ago on the banks of the Ottawa River, expanded Canada Day celebrations from June 20 to July 4 and week-long special events preceding the Nov. 27 playing of the Grey Cup.

- Israel`s 40th Anniversary.

The walls of Old Jerusalem will form the backdrop for a lavish production of Verdi`s opera ``Nabucco,`` centerpiece for celebrations of Israel`s 40th anniversary of independence.

A cast of 1,050 will star in 12 performances of the opera between May 15 and 29. Tickets at $250 to $750 each, sold in conjuction with tour packages.

April 21 will see a re-enactment of the signing of the Declaration of Independence while hot-air balloon competitions, song festivals, sound and light shows and concerts will be staged at 12 locations in the Negev Desert from July 5 to 13. Celebrations got underway last September and continue throughout 1988.

- Dublin Turns 1,000.

Concerts, sports events, art shows, parades and parties will be staged in Dublin throughout 1988 as the Irish capital marks the Celtic takeover of a former Norse settlement on the River Liffey.

There will be clusters of activities around St. Patrick`s Day, March 17, and around Bloomsday, June 16. The official birthday on July 17 will feature a re-enactment of an 18th-Century Lord Mayor`s parade and a party in Phoenix Park.

- Cincinnati`s Birthday Bash.

Other cities celebrate with parades of Tall Ships. Cincinnati will cap its year-long 200th anniversary with ``Tall Stacks,`` a tribute to steamboats. From Oct. 14 to 16, a dozen riverboats will chug along the Ohio River with cannons firing and bands playing, then dock to welcome visitors aboard. A Riverfront Festival and 1880s fair run all weekend.

The city`s annual May Festival of choral music will expand to a month-long event for 1988, while 10 days of celebrations will precede the playing of the Major League Baseball All-Star Game on July 12. Other Bicentennial activities are scattered through the year.

- Armada 400.

Plymouth, England, plans four weeks of special events in July marking the 400th anniversary of Sir Francis Drake`s defeat of the Spanish Armada. Highlight will be a re-creation of the final battle in Plymouth Sound on July 28.

Also on the agenda is a costumed Armada Ball, an Elizabethan ox roast and picnics with Elizabethan fare on the nearby groundd of Drake`s former home at Buckland Abbey.